94 



NOKTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



Measurements. Total length, 447 mm; tail, 40; hind feet, 143; ears (dry), 

 inside from notch to tip, 68. 



Distribution and habitat. This Eocky Mountain form of the 

 snowshoe hare comes into eastern Oregon over most of the Blue 

 Mountain Plateau. There are specimens in the Biological Survey 

 collection from Wallowa, Strawberry Butte, and from near Sumter, 

 and in the Jewett collection from the Ochoco National Forest, from 

 15 miles north of Burns, and from Sled Springs, 22 miles north of 

 Enterprise (fig. 13). Numerous records cover the Canadian Zone 

 forest area of these mountains. In Oregon, however, their range 

 apparently does not connect with that of Mamathensis in the Cas- 

 cade Mountains. They are denizens of the deep forests and dense 

 thickets, sometimes ranging to near timber line through both Cana- 

 dian and Hudsonian Zones. 



General habits. While often common, these hares are less con- 

 spicuous than most other species, because in summer they hide away 



in the dense growth, 

 where their shadowy 

 colors afford them excel- 

 lent concealment. In win- 

 ter their tracks and run- 

 ways are often conspicu- 

 ous ; but the rabbits, 

 when pure white, are 

 practically invisible on 

 the snow fields except in 

 motion. They are fleet of 

 foot and have little 

 trouble in saying them- 

 selves when directly pur- 

 sued but are much hunted 

 by the Canada lynx, 

 bobcats, and owls, which 

 stealthily pounce upon 

 them. At times they become fairty numerous and again are ex- 

 tremely scarce, their abundance varying from unknown causes in 

 different years or series of years. 



Breeding habits. The young of this snowshoe hare are born in 

 May or June, usually 4 to 6 in a litter. They are well furred at birth 

 and soon are running about getting a part of their living from the 

 tender green vegetation. 



Food habits. In summer these hares feed on the tender green 

 vegetation, grasses, clover, and a great variety of plants, but in 

 winter their food is mainly buds, tips, and bark from the branches 

 of shrubs and young trees. In spring in a good rabbit thicket the 

 wild dogwood, raspberry, and a great variety of other bushes will 

 be found nipped off as though by a sharp knife, and the peeled tips 

 and stems lie scattered over the ground where they have been eaten. 

 As the snow gets deeper the rabbits are brought up to a fresh and 

 ever-abundant supply of shrubby food, and the wintertire seems to 

 be their season of greatest activity and most vigorous bodily condi- 

 tion. While not becoming fat as many animals do, they often show 

 between the shoulders two narrow strips of tallow, which indicate 

 their condition. 



FIGURE 13. Range of the three forms of snowshoe 

 hares in Oregon : 1, Lepus americanus washing- 

 tonii; 2, L. a. klamathensis ; 3, L. a. bairdii. 

 Type locality circled. 



